It's All About the Process: Sanding Sticks

Sanding is not my favorite part of what I do, but it's got to be done. In many cases I opt to use my flex shaft for most of the work. Maybe I'm just not great with the thing, but I can always tell the difference between flex shaft sanding and hand sanding, so I always follow up by hand. One of the many useful tricks I learned from my college jewelry professor (Thanks to Kris Patzlaff!) was to make my own sanding sticks. They really speed up the process and have saved me a lot of hand ache I'm sure! There are many sanding sticks and sponges available on the market but who has time to order a sanding stick when they're in the thick of it? Not me, besides, it's nice to reuse some items that I usually have in the studio anyway.

What you need:
Sand paper (320, 400, 600, 1500)
Popsicle sticks, tongue depressors, dowels of various sizes, yard stick, wooden sculpture tools, etc
Masking Tape
Sharpie or other writing implement

Step One: Cut (or rip) the sandpaper to size.
    Cut the sandpaper a bit shorter than the length of the chosen stick.

Step Two: Attach the paper to the Stick
    Fold the sand paper over the stick and tape along the entire edge.

Step Three: Wrap the stick up!
   Tightly wrap the sandpaper around the stick. About 6 inches of sand paper should be plenty.

Step Four:
   Wrap tape around the outer edges to secure the sandpaper.

Step Four: Label the sticks and sand away
     Using a Sharpie label the sticks with the grit so you know what you're working with.
     The best part about these sticks it that as the paper begins to wear down one just rips a bit away to reveal
     fresh paper!

Here's a look at some dowels. Great for sanding inside rings and long enough to have two grits on each stick.

Get creative! If you'd like a larger stick, a yard stick is perfect. Just cut it into 1 foot lengths and wrap as above. If you're looking for something with a sharp edge, wooden sculpture tools work great, although the wrapping is a bit more difficult.

It's All About the Process: Making Simple Buttons

Button Collection above my bench

I love Buttons! My grandma had a huge box that I would spend hours sifting through as a child. When she passed many of those buttons became part of my collection and several years later my mom and I spent an evening during one of her visits sorting them by color or material so I could display them in my collection of bottles.  A while back I decided to make some simple buttons of my own using some 20 gauge brass that had been sitting around for a while. The process is perfect for someone just beginning to manipulate metal and can be modified for much more complex buttons if desired.

Tools and Supplies:
Goggles and Face Shield (Safety first!)
Metal (I usually go with 20 gauge or heavier)
    A 1" x 3" piece will yield 12, 1/2" square buttons or  6, 1" X 1/2" buttons
Hammer
Texturing tools: hammers, stamps, etch bath (whatever you use to mark up the metal)
Bench Block or anvil 
Ruler
Pencil or Sharpie
Center Punch
Drill press or Flex shaft (whatever you use to drill holes)
Jewelers Saw or a Shear if you have one
Files
Sandpaper
Patina (optional)
Wax

Step One: Create some texture on the sheet metal using hammers, stamps and a bench block
   *Annealing first is helpful but not necessary 
   For these buttons I used a variety of hammers and stamps. This would be the time to etch!
   For a great tutorial on Green Electro Etching check out this tutorial by Inbar Baraket.

Step Two: Using a ruler and pencil map out the desired shapes including hole placement.
   I went with squares, rectangles, and triangles with varying numbers of holes.

Step Three: Using a center punch and chasing hammer create a starting point for each hole.

Steps 1- 3

Step Four: Drill out the Holes using a drill press or flex shaft (Face Shield!).
   

Drill Holes

Step Five: Cut out the shapes using a jewelers saw or shear (wear goggles or other eye protection).

Step Six: Filing and Sanding: Round out the edges and corners using files and sand paper.
  When sanding I usually start with 350 grit and work down to 600 (using a flex shaft and a split mandrel
  really speeds this up, sanding sticks are also great).

Row 1: Cut out, Row 2: Filed, Row 3: Sanded

Step Seven: patina and wax!
   I went with Midas Black for this group (Please make sure to read the directions and wear eye protection!)
   A cloth, Sand paper, or scotch bright can be used to relieve the patina (I went with 1200 grit sand paper)
   *If you are going for super shiny buttons you would probably want to buff the little guys before waxing.

Row 1: dark patina, Row 2: patina relieved, Row 3: Waxed

This collection of buttons is going into the goodie bags for the I Heart Indie (fashion) event at Origin Design Studios of Eureka, CA from 6-9 on May 5th. If you are in town be one of the first 30 people to arrive and one of these little guys will be all yours!